Blue Moon Special: Lunar Oasis (1989)

Image: NASA/SAIC/Pat Rawlings

Settlements on other worlds are a staple of science fiction and of speculative space planning. To date, however, serious work to develop the technologies and techniques that might make this dream a reality has been extremely limited in scope.

In a paper presented in October 1989 at the 40th Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, two veteran space scientists proposed to change that. Michael Duke, Chief of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston and John Niehoff of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) outlined a 10-year program aimed at establishing a self-sufficient science outpost that would serve as testbed for space settlements. Self-sufficiency would also reduce the logistics burden of building and maintaining the outpost.

Duke had been on hand in 1969 when the moon rocks Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin collected at Tranquility Base arrived at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston. As early as 1966, Niehoff had participated in advance planning studies for NASA.

Their Lunar Oasis plan drew upon hardware and mission design approaches developed in the 1987-1988 Lunar Base System Study (LBSS) (image at top of post), which Eagle Engineering performed on contract to JSC, as well as SAIC-supported lunar and Mars studies performed in the NASA Headquarters Office of Exploration. Their plan was not an official NASA plan, but it was logical and carefully considered. Though a lunar base is not at this time a component of NASA advance planning, one can readily imagine an updated variant of Duke and Niehoff’s plan – probably one heavily reliant on telerobotics – some day becoming reality.

Duke and Niehoff estimated that Lunar Oasis would have about four times the “magnitude” of the Apollo lunar program. They chose the moon over Mars as the site of their pioneering outpost because the former is relatively close at hand, permitting rescue of crews by spacecraft sent from Earth in the event of calamity. They proposed that Lunar Oasis be established at the Apollo 17 landing site at Taurus-Littrow, though they acknowledged that “any mare site would appear to be a reasonable choice.”

Establishing a permanent outpost on the moon would, they wrote, involve technologies that were “not traditional in the space program” and were “better understood by. . .construction, chemical processing, agriculture, and other industries.” They called for studies that would allow “experienced aerospace engineers and technical experts in a broad range of process industries to work together toward benchtop and pilot-scale plants. . .” They added that “[m]ost of this [work] can be carried out on Earth in a one-g[ravity] environment, which means that highly relevant research and development can be initiated soon.”

In Duke and Niehoff’s program, three missions would reach the moon every year for a decade. Every third mission would carry astronauts. Piloted landers would each deliver 14 tons of cargo to the lunar surface while automated cargo landers would deliver 20 tons. Over the course of its first decade, 594 tons of equipment and supplies would reach Lunar Oasis.

Crew lander from the 1987-1988 Lunar Base Systems Study. This and the image that follows show Earth near the lunar horizon, a view available only near the edge of the Nearside (the lunar hemisphere visible from Earth). Duke & Niehoff placed their Lunar Oasis at the Apollo 17 landing site; the Lunar Base Systems Study favored an outpost location in Mare Smythii, on the lunar limb. Image: NASA/SAIC/Pat Rawlings

Science equipment, which would generally be small and of relatively low mass, would be included as secondary payloads on most flights. Duke and Niehoff envisioned that, by the end of its first decade, Lunar Oasis would include a stock of geological field tools, an astrophysical/solar/terrestrial observatory, petrological and biological analysis laboratories, animal and plant experiment facilities, and surface-emplaced geological and geophysical experiment devices. In addition to serving the research needs of scientists, these science facilities would support self-sufficiency and long-term lunar occupancy. The animal and plant experiment facilities would, for example, generate data on the effects of reduced gravity on Earth life, while geological tools would enable Lunar Oasis crews to prospect for useful minerals.

Lunar Oasis development would proceed through three phases, though the program might be truncated if necessary; for example, if biomedical data indicated that astronauts could not survive for long periods in lunar gravity. The first phase, the Oasis Phase, would last about three years. Mission 1 would see an automated lander deliver a Space Station-derived construction module (“construction shack”) with a self-contained life support system. Four months later, a second automated lander would deliver construction machinery, a temporary power system, navigational aids, and supplies. Mission 3, the first piloted flight of Duke and Niehoff’s program, would see a four-person sortie crew arrive for a four-month stay. The astronauts would inspect the Lunar Oasis site and position and activate the construction module.

The second year of the Oasis Phase would begin with Mission 4, an automated flight that would deliver supplies for the second Lunar Oasis crew. Mission 5 would deliver a nuclear power system and a facility for extracting volatiles (oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen) from lunar dirt and rocks. Mission 6, the third flight of Year 2, would see six astronauts arrive for a one-year stay at the Lunar Oasis site, along with a cargo of tools, communications equipment, and a repair/maintenance system (“shop”).

Mission 7 would kick off the third and final year of the Oasis Phase by delivering a 10-person inflatable habitat, which the Mission 6 crew would then assemble and pressurize. They might assemble it in a small lunar crater so that it’s lower levels would be below ground and thus partly shielded from solar and cosmic radiation. The hard-walled construction module delivered during Mission 1 would become a “safe haven” in the event of inflatable habitat failure. This approach was taken directly from LBSS. A closed-loop life support system capable of producing 95% of the food needed by a 10-person crew would then arrive on the Mission 8 cargo lander. The third piloted flight of the Lunar Oasis program, Mission 9, would deliver a 10-person crew for a one-year stay and a pressurized rover. The six-person crew would then return to Earth.

Cutaway of the inflatable habitat from the 1987-1988 Lunar Base Systems Study. The Construction Shack is located at right behind the blue solar panels. Duke & Niehoff based their Lunar Oasis concept on this and other proposed Lunar Base Systems Study hardware elements. Image: NASA

The second phase of the Lunar Oasis program, the Consolidation Phase, would last about seven years and include 22 flights. The first flight of the new phase, Mission 10 at the start of Year 4, would deliver a second nuclear power/volatiles extraction module. Mission 11 would deliver supplies and space suit systems. Mission 12 would see 10 more astronauts arrive, spelling the crew delivered on Mission 9 a year earlier. Barring catastrophe, they would remain on the moon for two years.

The Year 5 cargo missions would lay the groundwork for a lunar population explosion. Mission 13 would deliver a second inflatable habitat, providing additional redundant living space, and Mission 14 would add a second closed-loop life support system, providing additional redundant life support. On Mission 15, 10 more astronauts would arrive for a two-year stay, bringing the Lunar Oasis population to 20.

Lunar Oasis cargo deliveries in Years 6 through 11 would emphasize industrial development and extended stay times. Mission 16 would deliver augmentation equipment for the volatiles extraction facility, doubling its output, while Mission 17 would deliver a one-megawatt nuclear power plant, ensuring adequate electricity for industrial expansion. Mission 18 would see 10 astronauts arrive for a two-year stay. They would replace the Mission 12 crew. Year 7’s two cargo missions would deliver an industrial module and a metal manufacturing facility, and its crew mission would deliver 10 astronauts for a three-year stay. They would replace the Mission 15 crew.

A concrete production facility would arrive on the Mission 22 cargo lander at the start of Year 8, followed by a third inflatable habitat on Mission 23 and 10 astronauts slated for a three-year stay on Mission 24. The latter would replace the Mission 18 crew. A second one-megawatt nuclear power system would arrive on Mission 25 at the start of Year 9, followed by a third closed-loop life support system. Ten more astronauts would arrive on Mission 27 for a three-year stay, boosting the moon’s population to 30. Year 10 of the Lunar Oasis program would see the arrival of a second industrial module, solar cell production equipment, and (on Mission 30) 10 astronauts to replace the Mission 21 crew at the end of their pioneering three-year stay.

Panorama by Neil Armstrong of the Apollo 11 landing site on the moon’s Mare Tranquillitatis. Little West crater is at right; Armstrong’s shadow and the Lunar Module Eagle are at left. Little West is roughly the size needed to hold the lower half of Duke & Niehoff’s proposed inflatable habitat. Image: NASA

At the start of Year 11, Mission 31 would deliver a cargo of solar cell production equipment, moving the Lunar Oasis program into its open-ended third phase. In the Utilization Phase, Lunar Oasis would be capable of using lunar materials to spawn daughter habitats. The outpost would be equipped so that lunar resources could provide all life support needs and crew stays could last many years. “[I]f necessary,” Duke and Niehoff wrote, Lunar Oasis “could survive for long periods of time with no resupply from Earth.” It might also become a supplier of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen chemical propellants to spacecraft operating throughout cislunar space.

Though clearly they were enamored of the moon, Duke and Niehoff recognized that a long-term commitment to lunar development might not appeal to everyone. They suggested an alternate course following the Oasis phase, with “no additional facilities. . .emplaced, as the crew reactions are studied and their capabilities in the lunar environment are tested.” This approach would, they wrote, “be consistent with a program that changes emphasis at an early stage to the exploration of Mars.”

References:

“Lunar Oasis,” IAF-89-717, Michael Duke and John Niehoff; paper presented at the 40th Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, 7-12 October 1989, Malaga, Spain.